I’ve always believed that a good environment is not only good for our community its actually good for business. I’m not talking about the exploitation of natural resources, but the way that the environment connects people to our city as visitors, new families, students, athletes and business people. Our natural open spaces, walking tracks, beaches and native bush create a scenic backdrop that is an essential resource for our city. It is a shop window to how we value the city and how we feel about ourselves. I’ve been involved in conservation ecology and improvements to public spaces in Dunedin for 35 years. Its a passion, I love making positive changes to the environment and my community because I enjoy making a difference. I firmly believe that our landscape and biodiversity uplifts us physically and emotionally to be better individuals in the community.

Conservation and Landscape

I have a very simple saying about the environment and it comes from having planted nearly 100,000 native trees and shrubs in Dunedin;

“It’s the spade in the ground that counts.”

Conservationists, community groups, volunteers and people who do great things for our environment and our landscape in Dunedin know this because they do the work to make things happen. You can talk a big game or you can go out and tackle the planting, the weeding or the trapping, its the work in the landscape that really counts.

The Dunedin City Council has over 300 reserves, around 2500 hectares of land, and that’s not counting council-owned forestry or water catchment land. The City Council is the biggest player in conservation, landscape and biodiversity in the City. Yet our level of investment and maintenance in this area of our city is actually very small. Which is strange given the obsession the city has with promoting itself as the “wildlife capital” of New Zealand. Our reluctance to invest money into open space and biodiversity is an area where we have been short-sighted and are currently missing out on opportunities these areas create.

There is a strong link between conservation, landscape and our community and tourism economy in Dunedin. Our scenery and wildlife are natural resources that draw people to visit and live in the area. That relationship means that we must act in a positive way with agencies, landowners and business to ensure that link is kept strong. The City Council has a role in advocating and actively participating in those relationships for the benefit of our region. It also has statutory requirements that need to be under New Zealand law. That means ensuring that the City Council will be undertaking the following;

• Facilitation and participation in quality communication and marketing between agencies, interest groups and landowners for the benefit of the environment and the community.
• Supporting conservation and sustainable initiatives and promoting them in the community.
• Being proactive in identifying opportunities, projects and initiatives that will promote conservation and good land management for the benefit of the City and its communities.
• Protecting the values of the City that provides economic, historic, cultural and biodiversity benefits to the area.
• Being willing to accept change and new information or technology that will provide positive outcomes for conservation and the landscape.
• Greater advocacy for the protection and restoration of the coastal and marine environment through the City Council and Otago Regional Council as a key environmental, cultural and recreational resource.
• Beginning the process of understanding that investment in Dunedin’s environmental and recreational values will actually provide positive economic and well being returns that will benefit both the environment and the community.
• Getting the spade in the ground and actually getting the work done to keep our environment and landscape special for our city.
• Managing the assets that we have properly and efficiently so that we receive the benefits of our investment and work.
• Utilising science and citizen science to make good decisions about the management of our environment.
• Meeting our obligations under the Reserves Act 1977 and the Treaty

“Biodiversity and conservation is essential to our health and well-being, its not a nice to have.”